Story of Sam
Story of Machona
Sam is a migrant in Greece living on the
streets. His living conditions as a home‑
less person are rough, and during the pan‑
demic he has experienced additional hardship and
stigmatization. Sam exemplifies this hardship
through his struggles to access lavatories and
washing facilities during the pandemic: “Corona
has been a nightmare for the homeless as essential
services shutdown, and I was not able to access toi‑
lets anywhere. I ended up with a urinary tract infec‑
tion and at the hospital due to the extreme pain.
Overall, many people were kind and gave me food or
money when they saw me alone on the street; oth‑
ers were very hostile when I wanted to access their
toilet in cafes.”
Machona, a male teacher and refugee from
the Democratic Republic of Congo living
in Uganda, provided an account of how ref‑
ugees are often blamed for spreading COVID–19.
“Discrimination was there before COVID, but it has
worsened. Let me give you an example from a set‑
tlement that holds almost one hundred and
twenty-seven thousand refugees. There are twenty
cases confirmed positive. So when people hear that
you are a refugee, they think ‘so these are the peo‑
ple that are bringing COVID–19 in the host commu‑
nities’. We are facing such challenges.”